Lancellotti said he tried to defend himself with a garden rake. As the men struggled over the rake, the stranger bent over and bit Lancellotti on his right forearm, the report said. Lancellotti's flesh ripped away as he fell to the ground. The man then got on top of Lancellotti and began choking him, the report said.

It was then that neighbor Chantal Lorio, a podiatrist and director of the Wound Center at East Jefferson General Hospital, came out to check on Lancellotti. Lorio said Monday that she first thought Lancellotti was having a heart attack and the other man was trying to help him.

The stranger was still gripping Lancellotti as Lorio noticed her neighbor was lying in a pool of blood. She didn't learn what happened until she began dressing the wound -- with the stranger still clutching her neighbor's shirt.

"He said, 'He bit my arm, chewed the flesh and swallowed it in front of me,' " Lorio recalled. She said the bite measured almost 3 by 1 1/2 inches, and was less than 1/4-inch deep.

I was in New Orleans recently and heard a ton of zombie jokes from the locals. Lots of half jokes about “preparing for zombie attacks” and how they were stockpiling guns, and they were serious about that second part. Struck me as interesting given what they went through with Katrina.

Oh God! This is it! I always knew it would happen eventually, but now that it’s really on there’s so much that I still need to do! I’ve barely stored enough fresh water, my swords are all at the sharpeners, and I have absolutely no idea where my kevlar gloves have got to! I knew I should have picked up a few extra boxes of double-ought buck last time I was at the Walmart. So much to do! So much to do!

I’m going to New Orleans at the end of this month ( Jazz Festival, ya know). What special precautions should I take to avoid or fend off zombies, if I should see any?
Will I know if I am being attacked by a zombie? If I do know that I am being attacked by a zombie, but i don’t have any special anti-zombie equipment on me at the time, what recourse do I have?

“Seriously though, the guy probably drank some of that Angel’s Trumpet tea. Remember a fews years back, when a bunch of teenagers in Destrehan drank that stuff. One of them chewed up (mangled it) his own arm because he halucinated that it was a roast beef sandwich. ”

And my favorite part:[SPOILER]
“look: the zombies aren’t going away. This survivor thing is gonna last, maximum, one or two months. And then it’s starvation or suicide or becoming a zombie. So here’s what I’m gonna do: I’m gonna drink the rest of this gin, and then I’m gonna outside and get bit, and then me and the zombies, we’re just gonna chill. We’re gonna wait. Sooner or later, they’re gonna come outside. Or we’ll get inside. After that, we’ll go storm a church or something. I dunno. We’ve got time.”

Can anyone tell me why the focus has been removed from this Lancellotti guy? Don’t you people know he will be the next to turn(that is, if he hasn’t already), and it will be up to him to do the leg(and arm)work of expanding this legion of flesh-eaters. My regards to his wife, but he has to be stopped before he acquires this yearning for flesh as well.

Mr. Lancellotti has surely turned by now. Why is it that the authorities never take this sort of thing seriously / know what they are dealing with until it is too late? Aim for the head, folks! Aim. For. The. Head!!!

“Bonnie Lancellotti also has concerns about the suspect, who apparently had been treated at East Jefferson General Hospital earlier in the day for a finger injury. Vargas was released 45 minutes before the attack, according to the incident report.”

Suspect gave wrong address: A story in Tuesdayâ€™s editions about Mario Vargas, who was arrested Saturday after being accused of taking a bite out of a Metairie manâ€™s arm, listed Vargasâ€™ address as 724 Camp St., New Orleans, according to a Jefferson Parish Sheriffâ€™s Office arrest report. An official from St. Patrickâ€™s Church, located at the address, said Vargas does not live there and has no ties to the church.

“…listed Vargasâ€™ address as 724 Camp St., New Orleans, according to a Jefferson Parish Sheriffâ€™s Office arrest report. An official from St. Patrickâ€™s Church, located at the address, said Vargas does not live there…”